This week I found out the sad news that Douglas Mayo, former editor of BritishTheatre.com and Amateur Stage magazine and one-time theatre producer, has passed away aged 57 after an illness.
Doug most recently was editor and commercial director of BritishTheatre.com which he set up in 2013 and developed into a hub for UK theatre news, profiles and reviews as well as ticketing. He left a year ago after relocating back to his native Sydney to be near his family.
Born in Sydney and educated at Narwee Boys’ High School, Doug developed a passion for musical theatre at an early age, encouraged by his mother, Judith, who died in 2021. He credited her with a mantra that stayed with him throughout his life: “Don’t just talk about it. Do it!” One of his fondest memories was being on stage as part of the crowd in a “spectacular” production of Aida at Sydney Football Stadium in 1986. A formative moment was seeing the first Australian production of Cats at Sydney’s Theatre Royal in the mid 1980s, instilling in him a lifelong love of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. His favourite was surely The Phantom of the Opera: I don’t recall how many times he said he saw it but it was in the hundreds.
Doug had a phenomenal knowledge of musical theatre, dating back to his childhood listening to cast recordings bought in local record stores. Posting on Facebook, he once recalled: “Sitting in Sydney, cast albums (and the Tony Awards) brought the world of musical theatre direct to me half a world away. I remember the rush racing home to listen to those albums – some great, some (well let’s not talk about those). As the effects of addiction took over and you needed a more frequent hit, the discovery of hidden second-hand shops that had a stash of albums would find you sneaking out to find a gem whilst you waited for the latest epic release from the world of the British mega-musical.”
He started out as a producer in Australia in the late 1980s and early 1990s including the first live shows for comedy duo The Umbilical Brothers, Australian musical theatre star Jodie Gillies’s own show The Other Woman, veteran actor Leonard Teale in The Quiet Achievers, Three Men and a Baby Grand, and Chair In the Landscape – a new Australian musical.
His first big success was the world premiere of the full-length version of The Hunting of the Snark in concert in 1990, presented through Jackson-Mayo Productions – his venture with Neil Jackson – with its composer, Mike Batt. Staged at Sydney’s State Theatre and the Hills Centre, it featured Philip Quast, John Waters, Cameron Daddo, Doug Parkinson, Daryl Somers and David Whitney plus the Elizabethan Sinfonietta.
Doug also worked as a freelance producer in Australia for regional venues on semi-professional and amateur productions including Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story, Evita, Les Misérables and Chess.
He continued to produce theatre after moving to London in the mid 1990s, including Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in concert at the Royal Festival Hall in February 2000, starring the original Tony-winning Sweeney, Len Cariou, alongside Judy Kaye as Mrs Lovett — again reprising a role she played on Broadway. It also featured tenor Davis Gaines as Anthony, Annalene Beechey as Johanna and John Owen-Jones as Pirelli. The production, directed by Paul Kerryson, received good reviews but tickets for the two performances were slow to sell and costs spiralled, especially as it evolved from being a concert to being fully staged with reportedly a 40-piece orchestra and a choir. This commercial failure deterred Doug from producing any more theatre although he never gave up dreams of returning to it.
Describing himself as a “serial entrepreneur”, Doug developed a string of small business ideas but ended up focusing on publishing. After working with legendary producer Charles Vance, he took over publication of Vance’s long-running monthly magazine for the amateur theatre community, Amateur Stage, and remained editor until 2013. This experience led him to write two books of practical advice for British amateur groups: The Ultimate Amateur Theatre Guide and Packed to the Rafters on marketing. In 2008, Doug set up Beige, a glossy fashion-led magazine for gay men to rival the likes of Attitude, which he subsequently sold.
Drawing on his experience with BritishTheatre.com, Doug became a specialist in theatre ticketing and database management, providing services in the live events sector in the UK and Australia. In a moment of contemplation on his birthday three years ago, Doug wrote on Facebook: “Along the way, I have met and stayed friends with some amazing people. They encouraged me to dream big, colour outside the lines, be realistic, stop saying ‘No Problem’ and consider things before saying ‘Yes’, and that the best way of moving forward is to do things yourself and try new things. If you fail, at worst you get a ton of crap on your head, but you also learn a lot.”
He is survived by a sister, Sue, and his father, Jim.
Douglas James Mayo, born 27 October 1967, died 26 June 2025.
I wrote the above tribute based on knowing Doug for over 25 years, mostly through working with him on BritishTheatre.com, Amateur Stage and Beige. If you have any details to add, please email me at markludmon@hotmail.com.